Marion Benigni
Marion Benigni is a character from the Kaleido Star anime and one of Sora's first friends at Kaleido Stage. She is the youngest of the main cast, even younger than Rosetta, and the daughter of Jean, one of the set designers who works at the company. Most of the time, she is seen with her partner Johnathan riding on her head. Her Japanese voice actress is Fumiko Orikasa and Kim-Ly Nguyen voices her in the English anime. Marion sings a song with Johnathan titled "M&J", based off their friendship, which is found on the Kaleido Star Vocal Album. Character Description * Gender: Female * Home: America * Age: 6 - 10 * Affiliation: Kaleido Stage, Freedom Lights (During Season 1) * Friends: Sora Naegino, Anna Heart, Mia Guillem, Johnathan, Rosetta Passel, Ken Robbins, Sarah Dupont and May Wong * Specialty: Trampoline * Family: Jean Benigni (father, set designer), Johnathan (kid brother, performance partner), Mother (deceased, trampoline performer) Season One In Marion's debut episode, she is against Sora just like everyone else. But mostly, she is upset when she sees Sora on the trampolines while training for her role as a Fairy Godmother in Cinderella. She does not want anyone using the trampolines since they remind her so much of her deceased mother and because of her strong belief that no one would be able to perform like her mother. Before Sora joined Kaleido Stage, Marion's mother was a trampoline performer and was quite famous. But one night, when she had to go to perform, Marion was ill and she begged her mother to stay. On stage, she was involved in a fatal accident that ended her career, as well as her life, leaving Marion completely heartbroken. But after seeing how related Sora and her mother are, Marion quickly changes her attitude and becomes Sora's friend and supporter. For the rest of the first season, she is always seen with the baby seal Johnathan, that Sora finds in a later episode, on her head. The two are never seperated. New Wings Nothing changes about Marion personality wise. Her hair style has changed to two pigtails on the sides of her head. She is also a performer on the newly built Children's Stage after Sora and friends suggested it to Kalos since the Dracula performances were scaring the little children. She is a trampoline performer and performed alongside Sora on the opening day. While she was afraid of doing it at first, her father showed her an old journal that her mother kept with all of her performance notes in it. She always had thought of ways of improving performances to make the show better and had even thought of one for her and Marion when she grew older. Marion cried knowing that her mother always wanted her to perform with her. In fact, while on stage with Sora, she sees a quick glimpse of her mother where Sora is. After that, Marion remains the same supporting character to Sora. Kaleido Star OVA 3: Good da yo! Good! In Kaleido Star's third anime OVA, she is in the last segment starring alongside Johnathan and Sora called "Marion and Johnathan Playing, ing, ing!" in which the two tell seal facts and try and teach Sora how to speak seal. When Sora is failing miserably at first, she soon has a juggling performance with Sora on trampoline to get her to improve. However, at the end, all Sora can say is Johnathan's bark and Marion is laughing with Johnathan and the whole crowd.